Registration is now open for an upcoming senior services symposiumto assist housing professionals, service providers, policy makers and others concerned about ensuring that older adults can actively age in community.

The Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative announced today that James Fuccione will direct the group’s activities and initiatives as senior director, a new position created to advance age-friendly communities in Massachusetts. Funded by Tufts Health Plan Foundation, the post was designed to lead the statewide collaboration of more than 100 organizations to advance the emerging movement supporting older adults, and to make Massachusetts a national leader in vibrant age-friendly communities and healthy aging policies. Continue reading →

Mike Festa, state director of AARP Massachusetts, traveled from Boston to West Springfield on Thursday to welcome the Hampden County city into the organization’s Network of Age-friendly Communities. However, it was Mayor Will Reichelt who formally declared West Springfield an “age-friendly community,” after reading a proclamation that adopted the AARP and World Health Organization’s principles on aging. Read complete article.

Scholarships are to subsidize registration for those whose organizational budgets are less than $500,000, or who are from an underrepresented group within nonprofit leadership. People of color, people with disabilities, and people who identify on the LGBTQIA spectrum are encouraged to apply.

Salem is seeking community feedback on a draft plan outlining how the city can best meet the needs of its older residents. The city earlier this year became the third community in Massachusetts to join the American Association of Retired Persons’ national network of Age-Friendly Communities. The plan focuses on how the city will pursue what AARP and the World Health Organization have identified as the “eight domains” of an age-friendly community. Read the full article.

A major emphasis of the World Health Organization’s Age-Friendly Communities initiative is bringing together people of all ages to share thoughts and perspectives. Yarmouth, the first town on the Cape to join the age-friendly network, held one such intergenerational event on Saturday, launching a model UN comprised of local seniors and students at D-Y High School. Continue reading →

With a growing senior population, what needs to happen to make Waltham a better community for healthy aging? This was the question posed by Brandeis professor Walter Leutz in his recent study, “Healthy Aging in Waltham – Going Places?” Spanning a year and a half from its conception in December 2014 to the final report in May 2016, the study looked at what makes Waltham a good or bad place to grow old and how it can be made better. Read the full post

Follow the money. That is my advice to anyone seeking support for livable and age-friendly communities — great places to grow up and grow old.

Age-friendly, livable, lifelong communities have much to offer. Walkability. Good transit and transportation. Affordable, accessible housing. Employment and volunteer opportunities at every age. Well-coordinated health and social services. More ability to age in place. More inclusion and intergenerational connection. People of almost any age value these things, which is one reason the movement is gaining momentum around the world. Continue reading →